What!? A post on Monday!? And the world didn’t explode!? Yeah…I’m making fun of myself a little, but I still won’t be making a habit of being this late. It feels unnatural. There’s just a few reasons behind it.

I feel like this episode was pretty okay, but it didn’t really appeal to me specifically. That was one major reason I didn’t blog right away, because quick impressions told me everyone else liked it, but I found myself incredibly bored throughout most of it. I really got no real entertainment from it and when they finally moved forward, I should have been happy, but the way they’ve handled things incorrectly until now just seemed to kind of…explode to me.

The other reason why I was late posting? Well since most don’t follow me on twitter…and since my widget either never loads or people don’t check it because it’s at the bottom, Monday (today) was my first day of work and I am very prone to stressing and freaking out. I actually had a nightmare about overlseeping and missing work which hasn’t happened since (totally dorky confession coming up) the last Harry Potter book was coming out. I had a nightmare about missing the part and then everyone spoiling me. Woke me up in the middle of the night both times and everything.

But it’s all good now~ I won’t take up any more time with off-topic ramblings and I’ll talk about my first day of work in the next Weekly Extra (which is also being posted a day late because of the shift).

Oh! And I got my Graduation present. I mention it because it’s Shugo Chara! merchandise so everyone can be sure to look forward to that post. *is going to go crazy with pictures*

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Thoughts

So since I didn’t really think a lot about this episode and because it’s so late and my thoughts are kind of…more mild now, this will be a short one. A few observations and then my personal outrage as an amateur writer.

So…I’m annoyed right away because we’ve already had episodes where there was some minor thing going on about food in brief moments. I seem to remember a certain recap with a lot of donuts…

Yeah. It’s really not the kind of thing you can do that much. I understand why it was like that (so Nana could get sick) but it was still…boring. It feels like as soon as Satelight gets back to Lulu, they just stop trying again.

For some reason it also felt like it’s been a while since the guardians have done much, but it’s only been since a couple of weeks ago that Yua came for the photo shoots. I guess it felt like it had been long since they talked about anything relevant, which is actually true. The number of fillers between the last big thing that happened and their next talk felt longer than usual to me. Not that it matters since it was resolved this week…

…But I did kind of wish I got to see a sad looking Amu~ Because of Ikuto~ But Amu changes in episodes that focus on Lulu (will explain that later), so I guess it’s only to be expected. *sigh*

Anyway, maybe I feel like the guardians haven’t been around much, because…well they really haven’t done much fighting as a group recently. Amu’s been on her own or with just one person a lot lately.

I felt suspicious that things would so randomly go the way Lulu wants them to. I had the feeling that Lulu just had to be misunderstanding, but by the way her mother talked it didn’t seem to be that way.

Hmm…maybe something will go wrong next week and that’s what will lead to Lulu’s crisis. Though I’d prefer if she’d stop being stupid and realized that she’s wrong already. Oh and that she’s selfish for wanting the embryo for her mom who is already perfectly happy. Which by the way, makes me want to have her mom turn the role down herself because she wants to stay in Japan and stuff. Ohoho~ That would be a nice way to break Lulu down.

But um yeah…back on track. I still want that epic, “You’re being selfish” speech I keep imagining Amu delivering. But like I said, Amu changes in episodes with Lulu. This is because serious things don’t exist in episodes with Lulu because if they did, it would be even clearer how much trouble Lulu is in. It was incredibly surprising, now that I think about it, that ramen kid showed up in that episode with Utau. But of course, what Utau told Amu didn’t have any impact on that part of the episode. It was really like watching two different episodes with two different tones.

…I was really “meh” on the whole of Nana being sick thing. Nana became an annoying, dramatic brat (rather than when I like her as a good chara~) and the reason why she was sick being so obvious too after she was eating in every shot before that.

But it did show the nicer side of Lulu which was a plus. Seeing her worried about someone other than the needless (and rather selfish) worrying for her mother was nice for a change. She really is stubborn (though sadly in the unpleasant way unlike the rest of the girls), so like with all stubborn girls it was nice to see her put aside her selfishness to do what she has to.

Though it was annoying how she still got all, “I can’t believe I’m calling Hinamori Amu” when everytime they’re together they pretty much act like friends. Lulu trying to see her as an enemy and someone she shouldn’t associate with to herself is really quite…ridiculous. Overly tsundere when you get upset at yourself for just calling someone. Good tsundere is when you only get all tsuntsun when someone else points it out~ Like Utau~ (So cute~)

…I love this picture. This picture with the Easter employees looking so menacing and evil, truly like the pedophile stalkers they all so are. Having Lulu think of them this way is the best thing that has ever come from Lulu for me.

Amu is so cute when she’s talking on the phone.

Oh heck~ She was just cute in general this episode. She gets cuter in personality when she has pigtails going. Which I can actually kind of understand and see as kind of realistic~ When I was younger (before I became conscious of it) I used to act “cuter” when I had my hair in some cute style. I don’t know why, because it’s not like I could see my hair, but when I had pigtails in they bounced and I guess that made me bouncier~ I don’t know.

All I know is that Amu was cute this episode~ At least part of it must be owed to that polite way people behave in front of someone’s parents. It’s so cute from the outside~ (I find myself even thinking this about my friends )

Actually giving credit to the cute blushing Lulu screencap, because I can’t help but love the dere side of every tsundere. Especially when it’s friendship involved~

I wouldn’t even really call this episode a chara episode since it’s just four of them. Amu’s chara and Nana. Which explains why it wasn’t as entertaining as the episodes usually are. Charas have limited personalities, so you need plenty of them interacting to make sure there’s plenty of material to work with. Or at least give the spotlight to lesser-scene charas. Amu’s charas are in every episode and Nana has been in almost as many lately since ?-egss run the fillers.

Also…I am filled with despair that I don’t get to see Eru in a nurse’s uniform.  Suu was cute too…but…you know, she’s not Eru. *despair*

I’m not happy that Amu lets Lulu boss her around like she’s Utau or Rima or someone. I feel like Lulu hasn’t earned it. They haven’t really had enough friendship time and their relationship changed in just one episode (which was a cute episode, the Christmas one).

I guess I can kind of give some of the credit to Amu changing over the course of the series, she’s more likely to forgive, but…eh. Amu’s a stubborn little tsunderekko too, you know. After Lulu got frustrated with Amu, Amu should have done a cute little pouty thing or something. Still keeping quiet because Lulu’s just troubled about Nana, but…well you know!

Okay. So I did find this part cute. For some reason. Taking the feathers from a bird and then sewing it…it was very cute. But just this part. The rest felt like they were trying too hard or something (like the little outfits).

Many shots of cute Amu smiling this episode. I couldn’t take them all. Amu had the moe turned up this episode and when I finished that ended up being the only thing I really enjoyed…or at least enjoyed enough to remember. (More SaiMoe boost conspiracy theories will be floating around again~)

Though Fuyu has some things to say on that. Explaining how Amu changes in episodes with Lulu…or rather episodes where the real plot doesn’t exist. It was like this back in the baseball episode too. Amu was darn cute, but the cute side of her was really the only side you got to see in the episode. She was acting like a more typical mahou shoujo heroine.

Now, she didn’t get annoying or anything, but she was just smiley and cute all episode (but more restrained). Satelight can get away with it because Amu is so often stubborn and stuff that her nice, cheerful side is extra cute. That is the magic of stubborn girls! But it feels like they’re just forgetting Amu’s full personality so it’s bothering me.

Nuuu! After Amu saw the jewelry, she stared at Lulu and kind of went, “hmm…” while thinking about something…But that’s not right! Look at that expression! It was the perfect opportunity! They finally had a chance and they didn’t do it! Why!? WHY!?!?!?

As for what I’m talking about, shame on you if you don’t know! I wanted to hear Amu-chan’s “jiii–” She’s the only one of the girls who hasn’t done it! It’s not fair! It would sound so cute! Then I could finally make a compilation “Jiii–” video and post it on YouTube and watch it everyday (all 10 seconds it would include ). We’ve had Utau, Rima, Yaya (right?), and Ami. Why not Amu!? Why!? It’s just too unfair!

*throws an eternal fit for eternity*

Well, I guess we still have some time, but after Lulu is done it’ll pretty much be down to serious business. And to wrap Lulu up it will be serious too so…there is no time. Ah! It was my last chance! I hate you guys! *more fits*

Ah. The Utau comparison. Obvious to all that Lulu is an inferior version of Utau. Of course, Amu’s too polite to say so. She’s just comparing them because they’re both so tsundere…mainly (and really only) to her…except Utau is better at it.

“You know Ikuto?”

I will take this as an Amuto moment because of how Amu’s face changed. She didn’t get smiley or just confused, but it’s like that. Like she’s surprised and a little restrained. Which totally isn’t on purpose (because Satelight isn’t smart this week), but you know…if Lulu hadn’t given the answer that she did, it could have turned into a little conversation where Amu would mention what happened and if they’re friends Amu could maybe talk about it~

But that didn’t happen. I probably ruined this episode for myself thinking about all of the “what could have been”s.

“Well Nana knows Yoru, but I don’t really know him well.”

Because I give credit for the things done well in an episode when I’m ripping on it otherwise. Lulu actually came up with a good excuse. Because charas totally run off and play on their own without their owners full knowledge.

Aww…that’s kind of cute. Lulu was happy that Amu was happy and said good things about her mom. The benefits of the tsundere (too bad there aren’t more benficial moments because Lulu is ultra-tsuntsun).

Also…Amu’s got a knockout smile. Best of the episode (and there was some good competition too). I’d blush if I was sitting next to her (no, this is a lie, I’d totally tackle-glomp her). Yes. That one picture makes this post worthy of the criminally cute tag.

Not quite the sleepover I wanted. So I felt a little grumpy. Why can’t Rima-tan (and Utau~ Come on~) stay over at Amu’s house? Meh.

Still…sleepovers are good. And they talked about something the two of them have in common, charas, and it shows a little how Amu is more mature than Lulu thinking about stuff like that and prompting Lulu to think about her own dreams some more. It was…kind of nice.

Now let’s watch Satelight ruin it.

Aww, somehow I always love Amu’s bedhead (it’s just cute somehow~). But Lulu’s hair actually looks neater after a night of sleep. How is this possible?

Though really, Lulu looks better this way. One of the things that annoy me is her look. Her hair is just too unbelievable (it really makes her not fit in with the other characters) and…it doesn’t look like it could belong to a nice person if you know what I mean. She looks more elegant (like she’s supposed to) and less ridiculous and like she could be nicer with this hair.

But whatever.

One tsundere friendship moment for the road before things get ruined. It was a nice touch that they made the two of them get closer right before stuff happened, but they really did…well bah. You’ll see.

“Today, we’re gonna take some ?-eggs and find the embryo!”

…

GRAGH! I can’t believe that this is how they revealed it. Someone just blurted it out stupidly. This is incredibly stupid, it takes no skill to write this stuff, and it is incredibly difficult to believe. No matter how silly, like someone would ever really blurt that out.

Especially having it be a silly moment which would lead to the drama of the situation. This is…just totally below what I even could have expected from Satelight. I seriously thought they would go for the “equally easy, but at least didn’t make an idiot out of anyone” choice of having Amu see Lulu right after healing a ?-egg. This way makes an idiot out of everyone, even the guardians and Amu who never got the chance to discover it for themselves.

All of this time we’ve had to spend on Lulu and the whole thing gets revealed by Nana accidentally blurting it out. I’ll give them some credit for making the big reveal right after Amu slept over Lulu’s house. That way it kind of hits Amu more. Though I think it would have been better if Amu hadn’t gone from stubborn to total mahou shoujo making-friends mode with Lulu so easily and remembered about what a bitch Lulu had been. That way it would have taken their friendship more time to develop. Rather than the one episode change from frustration to smiley shoujo gal-pals~

I’d also like to point out that a major point in me having no feeling in this is that despite this moment taking forever there was still no emotion invested in it. There were about three episodes focusing on Lulu and her relationship with Amu. Outside of that Amu and Lulu just met randomly like…maybe seven times tops?

So most of the time there’s been contact, it’s been Lulu watching Amu fight ? stuff. So the odds were overwhelmingly in the favor of Amu just running into Lulu and I thought a scene like that would have went really well. It practically wrote itself. Especially after a chara-nari already wandered over to Lulu once before, it could have happened again.

I suppose they just wanted to get it done with rather than writing another episode where that could happen at the end, which is good I suppose in the long run, though one can’t help but wonder why they’re rushing now when they’ve dragged it out for so long. Also, even if I want to get it over with, I at least expected it to be handled better than this. I really can’t see it as anything other than poor writing. One of those moments I often imagine from Satelight where they’re just looking on how to please their fans:

“They’re really getting sick of Lulu now. After Yua, the girls probably won’t stand for her any longer. Add that to them being pissed about Ikuto being held captive in a room with his violin as a flashlight-”

“Ohoho~ I thought that was a nice touch if I do say so myself.”

“Yeah…uh…sure. Ignoring the randomness of it, it does seem quite evil and makes an impact, but that just makes the fangirls more restless. Anyway, no one wants Lulu around anymore.”

“Fine. We’ll just get rid of her. Just have Nana be an idiot and announce the ?-eggs right in front of Amu at the end of the episode and we’ll move stuff along. The end.”

Like I said, good to finally move along, but they should have done better.

Well, this will be an awkward scene to leave. Especially since Amu still needs to get dressed.

Let me basically sum it all up by saying that I am so glad that Lulu and Nana are going to be disappearing from my sight soon. However, I think a lot of people didn’t expect the “big reveal” (pfft yeah right) to be this episode since I saw a lot of people referring to this one as a “chara episode” but I kind of did. So some people may have gotten excited about the story moving faster sooner while I got exactly what I expected…or rather a little less. Then the whole thing just didn’t entertain me enough to make up for that absolute failure in story development at the end. It reeked of, “just throw it in there” carelessness.

Or maybe I just don’t like episodes that have charas for entertainment when Eru isn’t around. Totally possible. (Though I did enjoy episode 50… )

As expected too, it didn’t help that this came after Yua and the revelation that…*gasp* Yes! Satelight can do a good job developing a filler character when they actually try. But why should they try to develop and make the character who is going to be around for a season and a half likable? That doesn’t make any sense at all! (Note the HEAVY sarcasm)

Meh. Well, I guess I’ll just be happy that it’s almost over and we can move onto the plot. I recently had a great reawakening in excitement for Amuto-ness (not that I lost my loved, it had just been slipping my attention more lately since there was nothing new coming out), so I’ll be happy to get to those episodes. Especially that one. But even before that I at least have Amu crying for Ikuto when she hears part of his story from Tadase.

Ah. I ended up writing more than expected actually. Less screencaps than what’s become normal, but…lots of writing for those screencaps. I guess I still had a lot of critique.

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Preview

Hm. Lulu does a ? chara-nari. It never really occurred to me, but it makes sense. Right now she’ll be more lost than plenty of the kids she forced that on. It’s also a good way to redeem a character. Turning their own power against them so they know what their victims have been through.

However, it doesn’t really mean I expect to enjoy it. I’ll still find problems with it because I don’t really feel like Lulu deserves much sympathy. If most of her moping is because of Amu it would be fine, but I don’t think Lulu’s selfish nature would change quite that easily. At least if I think that way I can only go, “Ah. I thought so” rather than ”

Also wtf. Dia needs to stop popping out whenever she Satelight wants her to. She’ll pop out when Amu shines. When she’ll be properly born (or hatched rather). That’s how charas work. Cut it out.

In: Shugo Chara! | tags: criminally cute, DON'T do this, fail, Finally!, meh, ugh. | #